When to test with YARC
Testing with YARC Early Reading
When YARC Early Reading is administered will depend on the purpose of testing. The four individual tests can be used in different combinations and for repeat testing.
The Sound Deletion and Sound Isolation assessments can be used to screen pupils early in the autumn term. This will give you a good idea about your pupils’ ability to manipulate and isolate sounds within words, which are important precursors to successful decoding.
Pupils will need to have undertaken some formal instruction using phonics in order to tackle Early Word Recognition and Letter Sound assessments. Therefore, depending on any pre-learning, you may want to delay these until the end of the term or the second half of the year.
The pupil record form allows each pupil to be tested up to three times. A gap of around 12 weeks should be left between testing.
Testing with YARC Passage Reading Primary & Secondary
When YARC Passage Reading is administered will depend on the purpose of testing. If you would like to use the assessment to produce diagnostic information, or identify reading problems, then YARC should be used in the autumn term. If you would like to use the assessment to assess and monitor pupil progress, then it will be useful to use the test throughout the year.